"If you're using special punctuation, there is almost always a more eloquent way of articulating your sentence/thought."

Thank you. You've just fixed my writing style. I owe you a large drink.

(No, seriously. I use semi-colons, colons and em-dashes -- pretentious and pedantic though they be; fun though it be to be better educated than my audience -- entirely too often: see? With the above quotation in my arsenal, I shall cease forthwith. Consider me indebted to you for any clarity I may thus gain.)